♦ On December 2012, despite the fact that Mexico remained as the top source country for refugee claimants to Canada (7,944 claimants), the number of Mexican claimants was 62 percent down from the highest number (21,118) observed in 2009.

♦ A total of 265,404 international students were present on December 1st 2012. The largest groups were the Chinese representing 30 percent or 80,638 students, followed by India (10 percent), and students from the Republic of Korea (7.2 percent).

Immigration to Canada has experienced periods of boom and bust. These were largely driven by other countries' situations and Canada’s own. From 1852 to 2012, Canada registered the largest intake of 400,870 immigrants in the year of 1913 and the lowest (6,276 people) in 1860.

In 2013, the United Nations estimated that more than 231.5 million people (3 percent of the world's population) live outside their country of birth. In absoulte numbers, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and Germany attracted the most.